Mike Phillips

William Michael Phillips (born 29 August 1982) is a rugby union player who plays at scrum-half.

In 2003, he made his Wales debut against Romania and scored a try.

Phillips toured Argentina and South Africa in 2004, and also scored during the 2005 tour of the USA and Canada.

Phillips made his first appearance for the Scarlets at the age of 20, and remained there in spite of restrictions in first team appearances due to the performances of Dwayne Peel, until the summer of 2005.

Citing his lack of first team appearances as the main reason, in 2005 Phillips signed for the Cardiff Blues starting most matches, partnering fellow former Welsh Under-21 player Nicky Robinson.

His performances for the Blues saw him get into the Wales squad for the 2006 Six Nations Championship, despite having a poor Autumn International where he started against New Zealand in a match that ended in a heavy defeat for Wales.

His first game came against Italy after Dwayne Peel, who had started the game at scrum-half, was injured in the seventh minute.

He also started against France where he played extremely well, picking up the man of the match award.

After a successful season with the Blues, he was picked for Wales's tour to Argentina where he started both tests.

In February 2007, Phillips was linked with a move to the Ospreys, on a basic wage of £180,000 as Cardiff Blues would not break their wage structure.

Having signed for the Ospreys, at first he was the second-choice scrum-half as former All-Black Justin Marshall held the role.

Following Marshall's departure to Montpellier, Phillips had the chance to make the position his own but for a knee ligament injury, allowing the emergence of new signing Jamie Nutbrown to take the role.

Phillips made the squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

He started one match against Japan in which he scored a try and won the man of the match award.

In all the other games he came off the bench.

But Wales had a very disappointing tournament, being knocked out by Fiji in the pool stages.

In 2008, Wales appointed a new coach, Warren Gatland, who liked Phillips' physical presence.

He played in the Welsh team against England, for the 2008 Six Nations Championship.

He scored the winning try as Wales claimed a 26–19 victory – their first at Twickenham in 20 years.

Phillips started the next match against Scotland, which Wales won 30–15.

Phillips was then replaced by Dwayne Peel for the match against Italy; however, he came on after 42 minutes after Peel was injured again, and made a significant impact as Wales thrashed the Azzuri 47–8.

Phillips then started the match against Ireland.

Wales made it four from four as they beat the Irish 16–12 to claim the triple crown.

Phillips also started against France, as Wales claimed their second grand slam in four years with a 29–12 hammering of Les Bleus.

Phillips was one of six players nominated for player of the tournament, but his fellow Ospreys teammate, Shane Williams, won the award.

Phillips was dating Welsh singer Amie Duffy until May 2011; it is thought that they were together for 20 months.

In June 2011, Phillips left the Ospreys and joined French club Bayonne.

In September 2012, Phillips was suspended by his club Bayonne for one match for what was described as unacceptable off-field behaviour.

Phillips is patron of UK charity Follow Your Dreams, which works with children and young people with learning disabilities.

On 16 March 2013, Phillips surpassed the record of 76 caps set by Dwayne Peel as the most capped scrum-half for Wales.

Tall and powerful, unusual properties in a scrum half, he has been compared to ex-Wales international Terry Holmes.

The third son of dairy farmer Trevor and teacher Morfydd, Phillips was born and raised the youngest in a family of three boys on the family farm between Bancyfelin and St Clears.

He is a fluent Welsh speaker.

His middle brother became Welsh amateur boxing champion before fighting professionally, while his eldest brother Rob was a scrum-half with Whitland RFC, where Mike also spent his late teenage years as both a blind and open side flanker.

Phillips then moved to Carmarthen RFC as a flanker, before playing at scrum-half; at 6 ft,

In October 2013, he was sacked from Bayonne for repeated misconduct, with the final incident being drunk at an analysis session following the loss to London Wasps in the Amlin Cup.

On 2 December 2013, Phillips joined French club Racing Métro, linking up with fellow Wales internationals Jamie Roberts and Dan Lydiate.

On 5 May 2016, Phillips made his debut in the Aviva Premiership with English club Sale Sharks.

On 26 November 2017 Philips briefly came out of retirement to join the Scarlets squad as cover due to injuries at scrum half and came on as a second-half substitute in their 34–30 Pro 14 win against the Southern Kings.

Phillips represented Wales at Under-21 level where he played with fellow Cardiff player Nicky Robinson.